Jesus calms the storm, a bedtime story

It had been a long day by the lake. All day Jesus had been teaching. So many people came to hear him that he sat in a boat on the water, and the crowd stood along the shore to listen.

Now evening had come. The sky was turning dark blue, and then darker still. Jesus said to his friends, Let’s go over to the other side.

So they left the crowd behind. His friends took him with them in the boat, just as he was, tired from the long day. Other little boats came along too, rocking on the water behind them.

The water was dark and the boat swayed gently. Jesus went to the back of the boat, where there was a cushion. He laid his head on the cushion and fell asleep.

The boat creaked softly. The water went slap, slap against the sides, the kind of sound that makes you sleepy. The friends pulled on the oars and watched the shore grow small behind them.

Then the wind began to blow. It blew, and it blew harder. A big storm came rushing across the lake. The waves rose up and splashed over the side of the boat, again and again, until the boat was filling up with water.

Jesus’ friends were very frightened. The wind was loud. The water was cold. The boat was getting heavy with the sea. And Jesus was still asleep on his cushion.

They shook him awake. Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?

Jesus woke up. He spoke firmly to the wind, the way you speak to something that has to stop. And he said to the water, Peace! Be still!

And the wind stopped. Just like that, it stopped. The waves lay down flat. The water went smooth and quiet, like a blanket pulled straight across a bed. The Bible says there was a great calm.

Listen to how quiet it was. No more wind. Only the boat moving softly, a little water dripping from the sides, and the friends catching their breath.

Jesus looked at his friends and asked them, Why are you so afraid? He had been right there in the boat with them the whole time, even while he was sleeping.

His friends were full of wonder, and a new kind of afraid, the kind you feel when something is very big and very good. They said to one another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

You know the answer to their question. It was Jesus. The wind and the water listen to him.

The boat went on across the dark lake, slow and steady, toward the other side. The water lapped against the wood. Maybe the stars came out. Maybe someone yawned, and then someone else.

Tonight, if the wind blows outside your window, or a worry blows around inside you, you can remember the boat. Jesus is not far away. You can ask him for his calm. And you can lay your head down, the way he did, and rest. Breathe in slowly, and out slowly, like the calm water.